I miss cooking!

Yes I really do! I have to somehow sacrifice that ‘2-minutes’ of blissful sleep post switching off the alarm in the mornings and try to squeeze in a bit of cooking into my otherwise mundane routine involving just taking bath, having my breakfast and leaving for office.

Back in Singapore, the recent routine was to wake up by 7, see the clock and mutter to self that I should have woken up at least 10 minutes earlier and hurriedly start cutting the vegetables to cook lunch for the husband all the while praying that Sahana shouldn’t wake up in between. But, alas, the always-right Murphy’s law comes into play and exactly on days when I am already way behind schedule, Sahana will wake up crying and my husband will start saying he is already getting late and I, in a state of craziness trying to calm a crying baby and finish off the cooking, will somehow finish the cooking, pack it on time (8 am) or a few minutes behind time and what’s more, even accompany the husband till the end of the road since Sahana’s crying would resume again on seeing her dad leave her and go. That one hour in the morning would be a crazy time. The feeling would be similar to having the deadline of having to catch the bus to office. Oh I miss that feeling too nowadays since I come by car.

Coming back to the topic, I thought I should tell you about my cooking skills, or the lack of it. Before the Singapore stint, I would have hardly cooked for a maximum of 10 days in my entire life! So having to suddenly do full-fledged cooking on my own meant having to eat food that didn’t taste good! But, as the days passed, my cooking slowly improved and I had finally graduated to becoming a decent cook with some dishes even turning out to be really tasty.

But now that I am back in Madras, it has already been two months since I cooked! I don’t know the state in which my cooking skills are now.

Drive away the blues!

A nice, long, fast drive coupled with Rahman’s music is THE best thing that can drive away the blues caused by a severe cold and head ache that refuses to go away even after a week since its onset and made all the more worse due to a disturbed sleep during the night.

I love Madras!

The weekend before last saw me realizing yet again how, to me, there is no place like our home – Madras. I read this article in The Hindu’s Sunday magazine about how comforting it feels when consulting your family doctor and even as I read ‘thanking my stars I live in Chennai’, I felt like joining in saying ‘me too’.

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Hello!

It’s been ages since I wrote anything. The only thing that I write these days is, guess what, recipes! Had somebody told me a year back that I would soon be doing a lot of cooking and that too trying out new dishes with a lot of interest, I wouldn’t have believed that something like that would happen.

These days I rarely read any blogs. I am so out of touch with everything that it was only a couple of days back that I came to know from my sister that Google Reader is going to be shut down! Oh no!

Anyway coming back to what I was about to say, today was one of those rare days when I didn’t have a sink-full of dishes to clean or a bucket-full of clothes to wash during my baby’s afternoon nap and I was also in a mood to relax. I watched a couple of interviews of Mani Ratnam about Kadal. I then read a few blogs including Lakshmi’s, from where I stumbled upon Yashodhara’s blog and enjoyed reading a new blog after a long, long time. I then started watching the movie ‘English Vinglish’, which my sister had recommended. My baby woke up halfway through the movie and she, surprisingly, did let me watch it fully. I liked the movie and found myself agreeing with the thoughts shared by the lead character on marriage and family.

At the end of what felt like a day from my erstwhile carefree-life, I felt like writing something here too.

Happy Birthday, Blog!

Dear Blog,

Happy Birthday! Even as I start typing this post, it’s already 11:55 pm here in Singapore and I am glad that I could wish you here before the end of the day. (Of course, it’s still not midnight in Madras) I do want to write more, but I am feeling so very tired and sleepy. Good night, blog!

A belated hello from Singapore!

It does feel strange when you feel like outsider in your own blog! But that is precisely how I feel like today when I feel like wanting to write something here after ages! Believe it or not, it has been a little more than 3 months since I came to Singapore! And in less than a month’s time, I will be back in Madras on a vacation for about 50 days. Before I answer the clichéd ‘How do you find Singapore?’ I want to pen down the thoughts that keep crossing my mind every time I get one of those rare ‘me-time’ moments here in Singapore.
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Thank you, Rahman!

Dear Rahman,

As you complete 20 years of composing music for films, I would like to thank you yet again for continuing to giving us such blissful and soul-stirring music that only you can. 20 years is no short time period and to me, from the carefree days of childhood to the big moment of embracing motherhood, it has always been your music which has been an important part of my life, a great companion all through.

Among innumerable happy memories associated with your music, THE most special moment happened last year. As I saw my just-born teeny-weeny baby lying next to me and sombal muruchufying the very first time, it was these beautiful lines made all the more beautiful by your music and voice that echoed through my mind:

malare sombal muritthu ezhugave
kuzhandai vizhikaTTume thaayin kadha kadhappil
ulagam vidiyaTTume piLLayin siru mudhal sirippil

Thank you for making the special moments of my life even more special and aiding me in tough times through your music.

As I often say, I am fortunate that I am able to experience your music. Here’s to more and more special songs from you! Proud to be your fan! Thank you, Rahman!